Before Giving by Gifting the Treasure Within

You want blessings of peace; love; family; friends; financial stability; and all the great things you long for in the privacy of your spirit. And, guess what… God thinks you deserve them because He longs for you to share in His happiness! But the pain of some experiences has pixilated your eyes with shards of a broken heart, and you are left wondering why the joy you seek is eluding you. Though in reality it only seems to be. The word seems is emphasized because the great things God has for you are stored up for you, and being released according to His timing, but due to the distractions of the reactions to the wounds of your soul, they become hidden in plain sight. You have been empowered to live a pro-active, not a reactive, life. In other words, you are not doomed to have to react to life’s circumstances, but can be groomed by the Word of God to actively live your life within the power given to you by The Father. Only free and clear hands can enable you to grasp the blessings God’s got waiting for you, and so there’s need to let go of all that heavily weighs you down.

Instead of holding tightly to all of what you have left and placing it behind a burdensome two-foot thick unbreathable inflexible concrete barrier of self-protection, or coercing repayment to take back what you’ve felt hurtful situations stole from you, you can practice “Before Giving” to allow yourself to “Be Forgiving”. There is a common belief that forgiveness is simply admitting to others that you’ve forgiven those who wronged you, when in reality the evidence of true forgiveness additionally includes how you move forward in handling new experiences with those who hurt you (this may even be yourself) and new people who enter your life. Often once having been disappointed, we lock away the best of who we are, but in doing so we shortchange ourselves and the new people who enter our lives because they just may not live up to expectations. Imagine clinging to something to keep it back as it was trying to go forward. To hold it back from going forth, you aren’t able to move forward either. Defy that temptation and move onward and upward by proactively choosing to give before getting what you expect. Our Heavenly Father did this for us. Before we ever gave Him a confession, an admission of our wrong doings, and handed over our baggage full of sins, “…God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him would not be lost but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ERV) He gave us grace, mercy, love, and freedom from repayment, before we ever did anything deserving of what He gave us.

Understandably, this may seem difficult to do, in that naturally there is an innate desire to either, prevent painful things from happening again, or attempt to vindicate oneself. You are afraid, beloved. Afraid of having to pick up pieces of yourself all over again. Scared of the thought of those who look up to you looking down upon you. Fearful that they’ll never understand. To overcome this requires “Before Giving”. Firstly, to give whatever it is you fear might happen over to God before it happens by using Faith as Expectation.

Expect God to protect you with His guidance, putting the right people in your life; “For this God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end.” Psalm 48:14 NIV

Expect Him to warn you of and around menacing mishaps; “There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.” Psalm 19:11 MSG

Expect Your Heavenly Father to vindicate you when others have wronged you; “The Lord will vindicate His people…” Deuteronomy 32:36 NIV and “…for it is written: ‘It is Mine to avenge; I will repay’, says the Lord” Romans 12:19 NIV

Though you may not always notice or be aware of these things happening, stay close to the Lord and trust that He will do them for you; “For the Word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does.” (Psalm 33:4 NIV) This will give you freedom from taking on the responsibility of spending precious time and energy of trying to do all of this for yourself. These truths gives you the freedom to live your life. It frees you to give people, drawing from the treasure within you, the best of who you are according to God’s Will and how He created you.

That two-foot thick surrounding wall has been impermeable, trapping the best of you in and keeping the best God has for you out. Though, we need levels of protection, that protection must be created in a way that allows a bi-directional transfer of the good, while keeping out the bad. No one else has mastered this as well as our Omniscient God! Thus secondly, while now knowing to trust God to give you that proper form of defense, give grace and mercy to others before you get it. Give kindness to others before you get it. Give respect to others before you get it. Give gentleness to others before you get it. Give love before you get it. Whatever it is you’re holding so tightly to, afraid to give it away for fear of not receiving what you believe you deserve, due to past hurts or struggles, freely give it to others. By doing this, you are “For [Old English meaning before]” “giving”. You are giving what is in God’s good and perfect Will without expecting payment for what you think is owed to you. Ephesians 4:32 NIV mentions to “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Put the worries aside, The Lord sees all you do, and has your blessings already lined up for you on a Divine time release schedule waiting for you to take hold of them!

I can hear you now, saying “but what if…” “What if I am mocked or ridiculed again?” “What if this new person wounds my heart like the one before?” “What if I make another poor decision?” Shift your “What if’s” from bottom level thinking to the top and enjoy the ride as you thrust forward at high speed!

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 NIV

This is not to say that you’ll never encounter painful circumstances or encounters. For, Jesus never promised that we’d have a perfect problem free life. But, what if the new person or people are the ones you’ve been praying for, who are generous, loving, honest, and respectful?! What if this is the chance to restore the love unity and quality time you once had with the people you love and with whom you have longed to reconcile? What if the new opportunity to make a decision is a second chance that will allow you to apply what you learned from your last mistake, and reel in a great opportunity? This is the chance you’ve been praying for! Will you allow past mistakes and painful experiences keep you from God’s best for you?! Be-Fore-giving… Forgive him… Forgive her… Forgive them… Forgive yourself… making room in the hands of your heart for all God’s best that’s ahead of you!

Prayer of Release through Forgiveness

Father in Heaven, Thank You for the forgiveness You provided to me before I was even a twinkle in my mother’s womb. Heal my broken heart, Lord, relieving me from the pain of betrayals and any of my own unwise choices. I seek to freely and effortlessly love myself as You love me, so I may love others as I love myself, helping me to release the fruits of Your Holy Spirit, as listed in Galatians 5:22-23, to all of whom I encounter. Empower me to lean and trust in You, Mighty God, to recognize what and who has been placed before me by You. And, enable me to confidently walk in the kind of faith that conquers fears of the unknown as I take hold of each and every blessing authored by Your Hand. You, Oh Sovereign Lord, deserve all the honor and praise! Glory to God!

In Your Holy and Precious Name, Lord Jesus. Amen!

If you’d like to attend Solid Foundation of Hope’s group Biblical life coaching sessions on Fly Free in Forgiveness, please Join Our Mailing List and be one of the first to be notified of its upcoming dates! This group coaching workshop delves deeper into the meaning of forgiveness, points out how to recognize God’s forgiveness towards us, and provides Biblical based guidelines that you can apply right away to help you on the way to living the life of love, peace, and courage that is rightfully yours as a child of God!